"ROC" membership not on UN agenda

New York, 11 September 1998

On Friday, 11 September 1998, the General Assembly's steering
committee decided without a vote not to inscribe the issue of
membership of the "ROC on Taiwan" -- as the Kuomintang
authorities still call themselves -- on the agenda of the U.N.
General Assembly session that opened this week. The decision
followed a lengthy debate in which opponents of Taiwan outnumbered
its supporters by more than two to one.

At the end of the debate, Assembly President Didier Opertti, who
is Uruguay's foreign minister, said there was ``no consensus here
regarding the inclusion of this item'' and ruled without objection
not to recommend its inscription on the agenda. The debate on the
Taiwan issue was by far the longest and most contentious as the
committee organised the Assembly's workload of some 160 items.

The sponsors of the move to readmit Taiwan wanted the Assembly to
take up a resolution revoking the section of the 1971 decision
excluding the Kuomintang authorities as the representatives of
China, thereby restoring Taiwan's membership in all U.N. bodies.
Beijing's membership would not have been affected.

The title of the agenda item they tried to get inscribed was:
``Need to review General Assembly resolution 2758 (XXVI) of October
25, 1971 owing to the fundamental change in the international
situation and to the coexistence of two governments across the
Taiwan Strait.''

The sponsors argued that Taiwan meets all the requirements for
membership in the world body and that it is unjust for its
population of nearly 22 million to be denied representation in
international organisations. Taiwan's backers cited its robust
economy, with a gross national product of over $285 billion making
it the world's 20th largest economy, and its ability to help less
developed countries.

This latest move was backed by 17 speakers during the committee
debate, led by Senegal's ambassador Ibra Ka. However, some forty
nations spoke against inclusion of the item, including some 25
members of the 28-member steering committee. It was the sixth year
in which the Kuomintang authorities have attempted a similar "return
to the UN" attempt.

The request was thus done to gain a seat for the so-called "Republic
of China on Taiwan", as the KMT authorities still refer to
themselves. This is a dead-end street. The Kuomintang authorities
lost their "Republic of China" seat in the United Nations
in 1971 when the organization accepted the Communist government in
Beijing as the sole representative of China.

Resolution 2758 dealt with the question who was representing China
in the United Nations. It did not deal with the question of Taiwan's
representation, which is a separate issue, to be dealt with as a
follow up on the decisions of the San Francisco Peace Treaty of
1951-52 .

Some international observers argue that the issue should not be
raised, saying that Taiwan's entry into the UN is impossible because
China has a permanent seat in the Security Council and will block
any attempt to let Taiwan join the UN.

We believe that such a position is indefensible and totally wrong:
the world should not let itself be dictated by a repressive and
dictatorial China. It should stand up for the principles on which
the UN was founded: freedom, democracy, equal rights and
self-determination of peoples.

In particular Western nations, which seem so eager to trade with
China, have the moral obligation to make it clear to China that its
acceptance as a full partner in the international community hinges
on its recognition of Taiwan as a friendly neighbor. Right now, a
world body which was set up on the basis of the principle of
universality is still excluding a free, democratic and independent
nation of 21 million people. This needs to change.